History in Miniature: The 150th Anniversary of Stamp Issuance in Hong Kong
Recently Visited

About the Collection



Hong Kong’s first post office, the General Post Office, was opened as early as 12 November 1841, near where St. John’s Cathedral stands today. Set up mainly to provide postal services for the British forces in Hong Kong, the post office nevertheless handled civilian mail as well. When it was first established, the Hongkong Post specialised in delivering mail, but did not issue stamps, with postmarks being used to certify that the postage had been paid.

Hong Kong’s first postage stamps were issued on 8 December 1862. Hong Kong was under British administration at that time, and this first set of seven stamps adopted a side portrait of Queen Victoria as its main design. The year 2012 marked the 150th anniversary of stamp issuance in Hong Kong, and to celebrate this milestone the Hongkong Post produced a set of six commemorative stamps and a series of related stamp products. Featuring a stamp within a stamp, they incorporated Hong Kong’s first postage stamps in their design.

This collection presents the contents and materials of the exhibition under the same title jointly held by Hongkong Post and the Hong Kong Museum of History in 2012 to allow the general public to learn about the design and printing of stamps as well as how postage rates had changed over time.

With the rapid development of electronic media, we no longer rely on the mail to correspond with others. Nevertheless, Hong Kong stamps continue to be produced, printed and sold in a diverse variety of designs and denominations, and the activity of stamp collecting remains a popular pursuit even today.